


In which Merlin Fell in Love (in the back of a cop car)

by dayishujia



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, based on a country song, based on a keith urban song, in which merlin realizes he's fallen in love with arthur, merlin and arthur trespass at the airport, normal person!merlin, rich boy!arthur, to watch the planes take off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 23:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4240290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayishujia/pseuds/dayishujia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur decided to ignore the 'no trespassing' sign at the airport and subsequently get caught by the police. It wouldn't have been so bad if Arthur hadn't insisted they try to outrun the cops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Merlin Fell in Love (in the back of a cop car)

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Arthur asked, looking about them as Merlin seemed to search the wire fence that popped up in front of them, effectively stopping them in their tracks. 

They both decided to ignore the No Trespassing sign hung up on said fence.

Merlin's old ragtop was parked only a couple feet away from where they stood. It was in need of a good paint job and maybe an update throughout (it still had its original radio which only picked up local stations on a good day and had a cassette player rather than a CD-ROM) but it drove pretty well and Merlin couldn’t bear to part with it or with the money it would cost to get a newer vehicle. 

Merlin grinned back at Arthur. “Of course I do,” he told him. Arthur rolled his eyes and leaned against the hood of the car. 

Merlin had short black hair that looked like he cut it himself and the most vibrant blue eyes Arthur had ever seen. He wore jewelry on a near-daily basis and his clothes always seemed a little too tight. Arthur knew that if his father had known he was with Merlin at that very moment instead of crawled up in his room doing homework like he said he was going to, he would blow his top but, he assumed, that was just a part of Merlin’s charm. 

When Merlin pulled up to the town’s airport, Arthur was a little surprised. It was a rather small place; there was no need for a tiny city like theirs to need their own big airport like London or Cardiff. 

Green fields spanned the area where there were no tracks, tall buildings where the city’s wealthy hid their own personal planes, and so on. There was no one for miles, half the city had already gone to bed and Merlin’s rag-top was sure to go unnoticed parked there on the darkened hill. 

Merlin found what he was looking for – a hole in the wire fence. It was easy enough to miss, that would be why the airport officials or the police hadn’t found it and fixed it yet. Merlin grinned wolfishly and ushered Arthur under. 

“Go on,” he asked, holding the wire back with one hand and waving his other toward the now-gaping hole in the fence. “After you.”

Arthur seemed to consider it for a moment and Merlin wouldn’t have been all too surprised if Arthur decided to back out. His father was the town’s mayor, after all. 

If Merlin was to be honest with himself, he was surprised Arthur showed any interest in him at all. Arthur’s type didn’t usually blend with Merlin’s so the tentative friendship that sparked between them months back had taken Merlin by surprise. 

Arthur was born wealthy and was quite sheltered. The first time he had visited Merlin’s home was testament enough to that fact. Nevertheless, he also took it in stride and didn’t make Merlin or his mother feel bad or insulted, in spite of his obvious initial discomfort. And since, he had grown accustomed to Merlin’s place and spent almost spent more free time there than at his own, luxurious home.

Nevertheless, he was also Merlin’s type, down to an exact T – golden blonde hair, pale skin with light freckling over his shoulders, and electric-blue eyes. He tended to wear slacks rather than jeans and all of his clothes were very new, much unlike Merlin’s, which were mostly hand-me-downs or gotten from Goodwill, well-worn before Merlin got his hands on them. 

After a moment, Arthur returned Merlin’s grin with a ridiculous one of his own and ducked under the fence. His jumper snagged on the fence but Merlin took care of it before Arthur’s clumsiness got the better of him and ruined it.

It would have been a shame too. Merlin liked that jumper. 

Merlin was soon after him, stumbling a little when karma struck him and the fence caught his jeans. 

“Klutz,” Arthur chastised when he helped the dark haired boy back up to his feet, but he was grinning. Merlin shoved him off, retorting with a inventive name of his own. Arthur only laughed. Merlin hid his smile to the best of his ability. 

After a moment’s walk, Merlin plopped down on a patch of grass he considered good enough. He squirmed a bit until he was comfortable on the ground beneath him. 

Arthur remained standing. 

The airport was proudly positioned at the tallest hill of Camelot, so the view of the glittering city below was rather breathtaking. The old stone buildings were lit up by the numerous streetlights; there were still some cars on the roads, their lights floating and moving like fairies. 

“Are you going to sit?”

Arthur glanced down, looking momentarily surprised to remember that he wasn’t alone. The baffled expression quickly passed as he grinned at Merlin, called him a colorful Shakespearean insult, as was their way, and dropped to the grass in the spot next to him. 

Luckily for them, there were still some flights coming in and going out of the city and they looked at the runway just in time to see a small plane speed up and take off, flying into the sky, up, up, up until all but it’s lights were out of view. 

“What’s for dinner?” Arthur asked, suddenly remembering the picnic Merlin promised. 

Merlin shifted and fished in his trouser’s pocket, pulling out two, rather smushed sandwiches. He tossed one at Arthur and kept the other for himself. “Bon Appetite.”

“This it?” Arthur asked. He turned the sandwich over in his hand. It was rather flattened and the peanut butter insides had leaked out around the edges, messing up the otherwise clean plastic wrap it was haphazardly wrapped in. 

“It’s a home-cooked meal,” Merlin told him matter-of-factly, in between a mouthful of his own peanut butter sandwich. He made big, stern eyes at Arthur and dared him to say something about the quality of the picnic. “One that I so lovingly prepared for you.”

Arthur snorted a laugh but was quite touched all the same. It was true that the sandwich had a certain Merlin-esque charm about it and while it was nothing his family’s personal chef couldn’t make 100 times better, mostly because it was his job to be a half-decent cook, it was something he wouldn’t trade for a high-class meal. 

Just as he took his first bite, they heard the tell-tale sound of grass crunching and promptly knew they weren’t alone. 

Over their shoulders, they saw two cops walking toward them and they both wondered how they could have possibly missed the flashing lights of the cop car that rolled up next to Merlin’s ragtop and casted flashing sapphire blue light over the grassy hill where they sat.

“Shit,” Merlin hissed under his breath. He was tucking his half-eaten sandwich back into the plastic wrap and grumbling under his breath. “How did they know we were here?”

Arthur considered the question regardless of knowing Merlin didn’t actually want an answer to it. 

“How did you two get in here?” One of the cops asked once they got close. In their uniforms, the officers lacked individualism and personality, even with the name tags on their chests and glimpses of personal hairstyles under their caps. “You do know this place is off-limits, right?”

Merlin frowned. “We weren’t doing anything we weren’t supposed to,” he told them as he rose to his feet, ignoring the fact that they were still trespassing, even though they weren’t doing anything else illegal. 

Next to him, Arthur did the same. They both tried to keep stoic expressions so that they could at least fool the cops into thinking that they weren’t worried about repercussions now that they’ve been caught. 

That’s when it struck Merlin – Arthur’s father is going to kill him. He was rather sure that the man already didn’t like him much but this instance would definitely throw him over into the hating-my-son’s-boyfriend club.

Neither cop seemed bothered that Merlin had been right and that the boys weren’t doing anything but trespassing and ushered them toward the parked cars. 

Maybe, Merlin thought, they were just escorting them back to Merlin’s car with a warning and they’d be free to go.

All the same, it seemed as though Arthur had other ideas.

The boys walked as far behind the cops that they could get away with. Arthur snuck a hand into Merlin’s, inadvertently making Merlin’s heart leap. Merlin attempted to remove his hand from Arthur’s, nevertheless the other boy kept a tight grip. 

Arthur smiled disarmingly and leaned in close. “Let’s make a run for it.”

Merlin’s eyes grew wide at the suggestion. He glanced at the officers to make sure they hadn’t heard Arthur’s suggestion, regardless of the fact that the other’s voice was no louder than a whisper. Satisfied that they heard nothing, he looked at Arthur like he had grown another head and he was just about to tell him so but Arthur didn’t seem fazed. Nor did Arthur wait for an answer. His grip on Merlin’s hand tightened as he took off in some odd direction, dragging Merlin along behind him. 

Merlin stumbled behind Arthur, gripping the blond’s hand like a vice until he got his footing and continued to hold on tight even after. 

He knew that running from the cops wasn’t a smart thing to do. It was going to land them both into some hot water but even so, as he clutched Arthur’s hand and ran with him, Merlin could feel himself falling for Arthur.

Somewhere behind them, they could make out the cops shouting, calling for them to stop but, even so, Arthur’s laughter was the only sound that filled Merlin’s ears. Merlin couldn’t help the smile that spread on his lips at the sound of it. 

The cops quickly gained on them and pulled the boys to a stop. Merlin was panting with the exertion and flinched from the cold, iron grip of the handcuffs yet when he caught Arthur’s glance, he couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from his lips. 

Impatiently, the officers pushed the young men forward. It was more or less a gentle shove, nothing that would make them stumble or even shake their nerves, although it did get them walking on the same path toward the police car as before.

From somewhere on Merlin’s right, he could hear Arthur talking to the cop that was walking him forward. He was saying sweet things, flirting and Merlin wanted to laugh again but he thought better of it. They had Arthur in cuffs too and Merlin thought it was a shame that those pretty wrists were likely going to be bruised when this evening was over. 

All too quickly, they came up on the police car and, by extension, Merlin’s ragtop. 

A small voice in Merlin’s head suggested that if they had just obediently complied the first time rather than running off, they would have been able to drive off in Merlin’s car and not in the police vehicle. He, however, ignored that voice because nothing could beat the view he had at that moment, of Arthur grinning wolfishly and turning on the charm on the cop that had him by the arm.

He was lit up in the blue flashing lights, bringing out deeper shades in his already electric blue eyes and Merlin thought it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t because, on any other normal situation, Arthur was already very attractive. He wasn’t supposed to be able to become more attractive, especially when he had effectively just landed them both into deep trouble with the law, his mother, and Arthur’s father. Nonetheless, the police lights lit up Arthur’s already handsome face with a radiant glow and Merlin was positive that there wasn’t a better view on this good Earth. 

As he was thinking, the cop opened the door and helped Merlin into the cop car. On the other side, Merlin saw the other officer doing the same with Arthur. Their eyes met over the top of the car and, Merlin thought, no matter the trouble he was now in because of the blond, he wouldn’t have given it up for the world.

Just before Arthur’s cop slammed the door, Arthur looked up at him with the biggest eyes and asked him for a smoke. Despite himself, Merlin laughed – the thought of good-boy Arthur smoking was simply amusing to him – however the cop didn’t find it so funny. He slammed the door, a little harder than necessary.

Arthur turned to grin at Merlin, who just rolled his eyes in an attempt not to look so amused. 

Arthur shifted closer to Merlin and Merlin done the same until they were practically on top of each other, their shoulders were pressed seamlessly and Merlin hooked an ankle around Arthur’s.

Arthur turned his head and nosed at Merlin’s hair. If he wasn’t sure before, he was now. He loved Arthur and all his bad ideas, sweet-talk and stupid smiles.

“Your daddy’s going to kill me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed
> 
> I was listening to the song "Cop Car" by Keith Urban in the subway going probably to the university when I realized it would make a fabulous little blah story about Arthur and Merlin.
> 
> I also have this headcanon that Merlin's the poor boy!sort, like the type to have hand-me-downs, country boy farmer sort. Most of my modern!au for this fandom will probably incorporate that.
> 
> Title credit goes to the song "Cop Car" by Keith Urban (as does the inspiration for the story)


End file.
